Beyond the Ice Limit

13

GIDEON HAD NEVER seen so many stars in his life.

After dinner, he’d retired to his cabin to unwind in solitude. But the events of the day, the unsettling descent and even more traumatic ascent in the DSV, and the revelations and speculations of the briefing session that followed, had affected him deeply. He couldn’t seem to shake the feeling of the cramped submersible, or the sight of the monolithic, cliff-like flank of the Baobab as he had ascended beside it. Even his big stateroom felt claustrophobic. And so he’d come up on deck. He wanted to feel the infinite space of the heavens above him as he brooded.

Standing at the railing, a gentle spring breeze ruffling his hair, he stared southward. The lights from the ship provided just enough illumination to outline the nearest icebergs, which towered out of the black water like ruined castles, broken spires reaching toward the sky. The sea was a black sheet, reflecting the stars and the bergs, creating a surreal mirror of the dark world above.

“Hello, there.”

He turned. “You like to sneak up on me.”

“It’s almost as much fun as tying your shoelaces together.” Alex joined him at the rail, leaning her elbows on it, gazing out. “This is what I love most,” she said. “Being right here, out in the great ocean like this, far from land. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”

“I admit it’s magical. But I still prefer the mountains.”

He could just catch the scent of her freshly washed hair, and he felt the same hopeless attraction wash over him. Part of him wished there were no Alex Lispenard on board to torment his dreams and disturb his peace of mind, but mostly he was glad of her presence and friendship—even if she did beat him relentlessly in backgammon. “That observation you made—about the bodies not decomposing—was really disturbing.”

“At that depth and pressure, salt water is like a mild acid. It goes to work on organic remains right away. You may recall that no human remains were found with the Titanic—not even bones. While most of that was done by scavengers and tubeworms, the seawater and pressure sure helped it along.”

“I can see why the Baobab-thing might excrete chemicals that kill off the surrounding microbial life—but how would it stop the action of pressure and salt?”

“That’s the mystery.”

Silence fell. They remained at the railing. Alex was so close to him her arm was brushing his. She had turned her head toward him, and he in turn swiveled to look at her. Their faces were very close. He resisted the impulse to lean in and kiss her.

Instead, she kissed him. Her lips were soft and warm. The kiss lingered for a long, slow moment, and then her lips parted and their tongues touched. He reached up and stroked her hair, pulling her toward him in a deep, long embrace.

She withdrew, smiling. Gideon was so out of breath he couldn’t speak.

He leaned in to kiss her again but she stopped him with her finger. “Not where we might be seen.”

“Right.” He wondered where this was going; why she’d changed her mind about shipboard romances. He knew this was probably not a good idea for either of them, but at the moment he really, truly didn’t care.

“We haven’t done any magic tricks together,” she said in a low voice.

“I’m not sure I can teach you anything.”

“Oh, I don’t know. There are always new tricks.” She paused. “Do you still have that bottle of Veuve Clicquot?”

“I’ve been saving it.”

She took his arm. “Let’s go enjoy it.”

He looked at her a long time. He couldn’t believe this was happening. “All right.”

They walked back into the Batavia’s interior, arm in arm. It was almost midnight and most of the ship, except for the bridge and the night watch, had gone to bed. Down through the corridors and passageways they walked, and into his stateroom. To his relief they met nobody along the way.

He closed the door behind them with his foot. Silently they came together and kissed again. She began unbuttoning his shirt, slowly, and he did the same with her blouse. He resisted the impulse to tear off all her clothes.

She pulled the shirt over his head and ran her fingernails lightly along his chest. “Mmm, I like this.”

He tossed her blouse aside, unhooked her bra, and released her breasts, cupping them in his hands. He lightly ran his fingers around her nipples, feeling them stiffen at his touch. He could hear her breath quicken.

Her hand crept down his stomach and slid under his belt buckle. “Want to teach me some magic?”

“Yes,” was all he could manage to say.

They made love slow, deep, and hard.

Afterward, he lay collapsed on top of her, kissing her lazily. Then he propped himself up, looking down at her lips, her nose, her hair disheveled over the pillow, her eyes looking into his.

“We forgot the champagne,” she said.

“It’s still there, waiting for us.”

They looked at each other for a long time. “What about your…you know, rule about no romance on board ship?” Gideon asked at last.

“Oh, well.” She shrugged. “I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“You mean, this isn’t just a moment of weakness, never to be repeated?”

“I’ve been thinking about doing this for thirty-two days,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m hooked. There’s no going back now.”

“For thirty-two days? I had no idea.”

“Come on! All those backgammon games? All the time we spent together? You men just don’t have a clue, do you?”

“But why now?”

“It was when you went down alone this morning—insisted on it, said there was no point in arguing, told me to fuck off. It sure made me mad, but oddly enough it also made you irresistible. I didn’t expect you to be so…forceful. Knowing how afraid you are of the deep.”

He shook his head. “It was Eli’s idea, to be honest.”

“Well, he admitted that when I escalated the issue, complained to him. But you did it.”

A silence. “So…is this…for real?”

“I hope so.”

“Are we going to hide it?”

She laughed. “On board ship? Impossible. But as long as we’re discreet, I doubt anyone will object.”

“Eli might.”

“Are you kidding? With all his psychological profiling, I imagine he expected this. Maybe he even engineered it to happen, which is why he suggested you lead the recon. He’s the world’s most skillful manipulator. But in this case it was a good manipulation.”

“Speaking of manipulation…” He looked down at her naked body, still unable to believe what had just happened; how suddenly his fortunes had changed.

“Uh-oh,” she said. “Is something happening down there again—so soon?”